Monte Coleman, the durable linebacker who helped Washington win three Super Bowls and later poured his life into coaching at a small Arkansas program, has died. He was 68. The University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff announced Coleman's death on Sunday. No cause of death was disclosed.
Coleman is survived by his wife, Yvette, and five children: Jasmine, Kyndall, Kyle, Corey, and Londie. Funeral arrangements and memorial service details will be released at a later date.
The loss ends a football life that stretched from a walk-on tryout at a small college to 16 NFL seasons, a Ring of Fame induction, and a decade running a program that gave young men a shot at something bigger than themselves. Coleman's career is a case study in what grit and loyalty look like when they aren't just slogans.
Coleman grew up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He walked on at the University of Central Arkansas, no scholarship, no recruiting fanfare. He earned his way onto the field and became the first player in Central Arkansas program history to be selected in the NFL Draft.
Washington took him in the 11th round of the 1979 draft. Eleventh round. The NFL doesn't even go that deep anymore. Coleman turned that long-shot selection into one of the most productive linebacker careers of his era.
Over 16 seasons, all with Washington, Coleman recorded 1,002 total tackles, 49.5 sacks, 17 interceptions, and 13 forced fumbles. He was a member of the Super Bowl-winning teams in 1982, 1987, and 1991. The recent passing of Raiders legend Rod Martin is a reminder of how quickly the generation that built pro football's golden decades is thinning out.
Josh Harris, Washington's controlling owner, called Coleman "one of the greatest players" in franchise history.
"He was one of the pillars of our championship defenses having played for all three Super Bowl-winning teams. His durability and leadership set the standard for what it meant to suit up for the Burgundy & Gold."
Durability is the right word. Sixteen seasons with a single franchise, playing linebacker, one of the most physically punishing positions on the field. Coleman didn't chase free agency. He stayed, produced, and won.
In 2015, Washington inducted Coleman into its Ring of Fame, a recognition that placed him among the most honored players in the franchise's long history. An image from November 28, 1993, shows Coleman carrying the ball during a game against the New York Giants at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., deep into a career that most late-round picks never get to have.
When his playing days ended, Coleman didn't retreat to a broadcast booth or a corporate boardroom. He went back to Arkansas and took a job as linebackers coach at Division I FCS Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a historically Black university where resources are lean and the spotlight is dim.
After the 2007 season, he took over as head coach. He held the job for 10 seasons. In 2012, Coleman led the Golden Lions to the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game. For a program like UAPB, that kind of run matters, not just in wins and losses, but in what it signals to recruits and to a community.
Chris Robinson, UAPB's vice chancellor and director of athletics, issued a statement reflecting on Coleman's impact beyond the scoreboard:
"Coach Coleman represented everything we strive for at UAPB: excellence, integrity, and a relentless commitment to developing our student-athletes. His legacy is not only written in championships and honors, but in the lives he changed every single day."
That phrase, "the lives he changed every single day", carries weight when it comes from a colleague at a program that doesn't produce first-round draft picks. Coleman chose to coach there anyway. The sports world has lost several championship-caliber athletes in recent months, including former Yankees pitcher Ken Clay, a two-time World Series winner who died at 71.
Coleman's NFL numbers alone would justify a long remembrance. Over a thousand tackles. Nearly 50 sacks. Three championship rings. A Ring of Fame honor. All of it earned after being drafted in a round that no longer exists, by a man who started as a walk-on nobody recruited.
But the second chapter of his career, the coaching years at a small HBCU in his home state, tells you something about his priorities. He could have stayed in the NFL orbit. He went home instead and built something.
The recent losses in the football community have sharpened the focus on how the sport treats its veterans and what kind of lives they build after the final whistle. Coleman's post-playing career offers one answer: go where you're needed, not where the money is biggest.
As recently as April 2021, Coleman remained connected to the franchise that defined his playing career, announcing a selection for Washington during the second round of the NFL Draft. The league has continued to grapple with how to honor its history even as the modern game evolves, a tension visible in everything from security concerns at draft events to the business of broadcasting.
No cause of death has been released. The university said funeral and memorial details would come later. What is known is the shape of the life itself: a Pine Bluff kid who walked on, got drafted in the 11th round, played 16 years, won three titles, went into a Ring of Fame, and then went back to Arkansas to coach young men at a school most NFL fans couldn't find on a map.
Monte Coleman didn't need a spotlight to do the work. That's the kind of man worth remembering.
